Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Wednesday August 10, 2011

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The Babylonian Correctional Facility

    Jeremiah 29:1-4

Break law/go to jail.  Judah broke the law of God/taken to the Babylonian Correctional Facility - to punish for sin/correct their hearts.  C29 is J writing to the inmates @ TBCF 1st epistle of Jeremiah to inmates @... 1-3   

J is writing to displaced/misplaced people

        Babylonians in both 606 BC/598 BC forcefully took many thousands into captivity.  Actually, we know it was their sin that brought so many Jews to Babylon and made them a displaced people.
    In your life there’s a whole different set of circumstances, but it’s easy to feel just as displaced as do these Jews in Babylon.

        Political refugees - not through their own sin, but the sin of others.
        Immigrants - promise of liberty/educational opportunities/economic improvement.
        Marriage takes some people where they would really not prefer to be.
        Job transfers/career changes move people in and out of our area.  I went to 5 elementary schools/3 junior highs/2 high schools

Many find themselves in a place they don’t want to be

        Jacob/Samson/David/Job
        Bible is full displaced/misplaced people – people in placed they don’t want to be.  You can follow the will of God/end up in place you don’t want 2b - Jesus!
    Displacement can be God’s correction/can be God’s direction.

        Daniel/Ezekiel weren’t taken to Babylon as a correction for their sin, but at the direction of the Spirit.  You may be where ur  because you need correction or followed His direction.   

God wants to speak to you right where you are

    Occasion of the letter - much agitation among exiles/questions /world turned upside down/ people longing for home/not wanting 2b where they were - displaced people who couldn’t go anywhere else.
    You don’t want to be in this marriage/relationship/area/career/$ problem
    Displaced people need to hear from God.  “What is the will of God for me in this place I find myself?”  The people newly arrived in Babylon were in a state of desperation/needed to hear from God/ vulnerable to any one who claimed to speak for God.  God wanted to move in and deal w/ any confusion /protect them in this time of great vulnerability.
    Those is times of crisis can be deceived/taken advantage of - Neil Marten, a member of the British Parliament, was giving a group of his constituents a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament. During the course of the visit, the group happened to meet Lord Hailsham, then lord chancellor, wearing all the ceremonial dress of his office. Hailsham recognized Marten among the group and cried, "Neil!" Not daring to question or disobey the "command," the entire band of visitors promptly fell to their knees!  Today in the Word, July 30, 1993.
    J was writing to counter the false prophets in Babylon who were giving false direction to the people.
    Whether you are where you are because of sin/another reason, God has something to say to you in this place.  He wants you to hear His voice/know His will.

God wants you to see your place of sorrow/loss/pain as a place of grace

        V4 – I have brought u2 this place. URN God’s place/place of grace.  You are trying to get out/God is trying to keep you in this place that you might experience more of His grace.

        We misjudge the place we are in – “This can’t be a good place.”
        Marriage/family/neighborhood/career/emotions/mind
        Israel at Red Sea/Joseph in Egypt/Jesus on cross…  But here is where God was revealed so profoundly!

    Genesis 28:10-17
    Jacob came to this place due to own sin/deceit and theft/ running from Esau/ came to a barren place/stone for pillow.

        He was in sin/flesh/fear

    God renewed Abrahamic covenant to Jacob in this condition.
        God was chasing Jacob.  He could hide from Esau, but not from God.  From man/not God.
        This barren place that Jacob came to by reason of his sin was transformed into place of grace by presence/promise of God.
        Bethel = House of God
    Cf. Gen. 29:1  Jacob went on his journey… = lifted up his feet…

    Genesis 32:24-32
    Jacob coming back into Canaan after 20 years – running from/ walking to Esau.  He had to meet him whom he had deceived.
    God met him on the way back in even as He did on the way out.  God revealed Himself in a dream on the way out and revealed Himself through a wrestling match on the way in.
    He gave something on the way out/took something on way in.
    If I wrestle you, I want something from you.  If you wrestle with me, you want something from me.  God wanted brokenness in/from Jacob.

        G28 – in a certain place he received the promise of filling
        G32 – at Jabbok (he will empty out) he was emptied
        He lifted up his feet after the dream, he limped away from the wrestling match.
        We say, ‘I want God to touch my life.’  If He does, you’ll walk funny from then on.

    He called the place of the dream: Bethel – the house of God

    He called the place of the wrestling match: Penuel – the face of God.  In the moment of his greatest pain/exertion he saw the face of God.  Jabbok, he will empty, became Penuel – a place of grace.
    It’s one thing to be in the house of God; it’s another thing to see the face of God.

God wants to meet you in a powerful way.  Are you at the Jabbok?  Is God wrestling w/ you?

J: don’t see yourself as a dis/misplaced person – graced person